


Father Mine, Daughter Mine

by SykoShadowRose



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Fluff, Qrow Branwen is Ruby Rose's Parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:06:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25198963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SykoShadowRose/pseuds/SykoShadowRose
Summary: Ruby knows Penny didn't mean to alter her whole world with a single sentence. But since she hadn't known the information it threw her for one hell of a loop.(Idea two of two for how Qrow being Ruby's father could work in canon.)
Relationships: Past Raven Branwen/Taiyang Xiao Long, Past Summer Rose/Taiyang Xiao Long, Qrow Branwen & Ruby Rose, past Qrow Branwen/Summer Rose
Comments: 4
Kudos: 105





	Father Mine, Daughter Mine

**Author's Note:**

> Despite knowing that Ruby and Qrow are not canonically related my brain still came up with two ideas for how they could be father/daughter and insisted I write them both...

Penny shuffled her feet anxiously as her friend continued to stare at nothing, silver eyes blank as the teen tried to assimilate the information mechanical huntress had accidently revealed to her. As time stretched on, the android contemplated whether or not she should retrieve one of Ruby’s other friends to help. Just as she was preparing to send a scroll message to one of the other three girls on her team, there was a blink. And another. And another. Then the silver eyes closed and the black and red hair ruffled when Ruby shook her head, like she was trying to fix her thoughts with the motion.

“Penny… You’re sure that’s what’s in our files?”

“I can not divulge the information from another’s file without consent but I can allow you access to your own medical file. I can show you where the notation is on the file if you wish to see it for yourself.” Penny rocked on her feet, relieved that her friend was speaking again.

“Yea. Okay, let’s do that.” Ruby followed her friend, mind still spinning from the casual comment the ginger had made that had completely and utterly turned Ruby’s world on it’s head. 

“Here we are! The file is here, and the note is right here!”

The seventeen year old read and re-read the notation in her file that Penny had mentioned earlier, under the impression that she’d already known the information. Penny observed her carefully, worried she might revert back to the blank, empty state she’d been in before. Green eyes blinked in surprise when Ruby turned on her heel and marched off without warning. Greatly confused and slightly concerned, the ginger trotted after her.

~*~

“I don’t know Qrow. I’m just not sure if this is a truly good idea.” James leaned back against his desk, deep blue eyes flicking between where the lithe hunter was rolling his eyes to where his captain and lieutenant were nodding in agreement.

“C’mon Jimmy, it’s nothing compared to what Oz used to have me doing.” Qrow brushed his bangs back, leveling his friend with a flat look. The taller man knew exactly the missions he was talking about and really couldn’t argue that point. “Look, I promise to be careful out there but you know how I feel about Atlas’ reliance on technology. Just let me scout out the continent a bit. See what Grimm are coming from where. I’ll come back every few days or so to keep you updated but I trust my eyes and instincts a lot more than I trust your sensors.”

“Atlas technology is the highest that exists. The sensors are a perfect warning system for approaching threats.” Winter scowled, feeling like they were having the same argument over and over again.

“Atlas tech was hacked and turned against us at Beacon. We have reason to believe that the enemy could be in Mantle and there’s no reason to suspect that the hacker _isn’t_ the one down there, considering we can’t find any video of the recent murders.” Crimson eyes narrowed when the female opened her mouth to argue further. “And, yea, you updated Atlas since then but you didn’t update _Mantle_ and that could leave a backdoor into your system. Especially since they may already be in Mantle’s system to hide the evidence of the murders. I’d rather take a look myself then risk being surprised by-”

All four of them suppressed a jump when the doors to the office were thrown open. Qrow felt a wave of concern crash over him as Ruby stormed over, a slight tremble visible in her clenched fists. He carefully placed both hands on her shoulders as she came to a stop in front of him.When she stood silently without any further movement, he couldn’t help but gently prod at her. “Everything alright kiddo?”

Ruby debated with herself as to whether she wanted to look up at his face or continue staring at his feet when she asked her question. Eventually she decided she wanted to see his eyes to gage his reaction. For all the deception she’d apparently lived with he’d never actually lied to her (except by omission and often that was for her own safety or Salem related, frequently both) so she wanted to give him a fair chance to explain before she judged. “Were you going to tell me that you’re my birth father?”

“Yes.” The complete lack of hesitation when he answered was vastly reassuring, especially when she could see the relief in his eyes that she finally knew. “Tai and I were going to sit you and Yang down after you graduated Beacon and tell you the whole story. Figured by then if you wanted to run off and work things out on your own, you’d have the means and ability to do so safely.”

Qrow sighed as he watched her wrangle with the new information. The shifter turned to the other adults briefly. “We’ll have to pick this up later.” 

“Of course Qrow.” James wouldn’t deny he was curious, and by the looks of it so were Clover and Winter, but he also understood and respected Qrow’s desire to have privacy during this conversation. It was for that reason that he watched his friend lead his daughter (really?) out of the office, giving a nod of both greeting and parting to the confused Penny as he passed her.

He’d have to ask the man later about it and pray his friend would be willing to share the story with him. He had relatively high hopes that he would. Qrow had always loved to tell stories after all.

~*~

The former tribesman sat side by side with his daughter, both of them holding a cooling cup of hot chocolate. He wondered, briefly, if he should wait until Ruby started asking questions and go from there but… Well, he’d been waiting her whole life to tell her the full story.

“It goes back to Beacon.” The teen jolted slightly beside him, silver eyes lifting from the cup to watch him. Qrow turned his body in her direction, leaning back on the arm of the couch so she could read his body language easier. “Summer was smitten with Tai from the get go but since Tai was head over heels for Raven she didn’t think she stood a chance with him. And Raven… Well, she liked to be the center of attention.” He grimaced slightly at the remembrance. She had always seemed a little more upset about the skirt prank than she should have been considering he’d been the victim. He still hadn’t figured that one out. “Tai was focused on her and in a way so was Summer because she was jealous. It pleased her to have them both give her all their attention, even if it was in different ways. I did try to warn Tai about that trait of her’s but since I was hoping Raven wouldn’t go back to the tribe, I didn’t actually discourage the relationship between them.

“In Summer’s defense she did try to get over him. Dated a few guys in our year. They never lasted long though. She just didn’t feel right being with them when she still loved Tai, you know? I think it was in our last year, or maybe the last semester of our third year… Anyways your Dad suggested that maybe me and Summer should give a relationship a go.” He smiled slightly as he recalled the blond making jokes about keeping it in the team and double dates. The dork. “The two of us talked it out and decided to give it a try. I knew she loved Tai so she didn’t feel like she was leading me on. And she knew about my semblance so I didn’t feel like I was deceiving her. We liked each other well enough and we both found the other attractive so… What was the harm in trying, right?

“It didn’t work out quite like Tai had hoped, obviously.” Qrow shook his head, no regret in his eyes or on his face. Things may not have worked but he still remembered those times fondly. Summer had become his best and most reliable friend because of it after all. “We just didn’t have that emotional chemistry to fall in love. We went from dating to more of a friends with benefits kind of situation. We felt better about it. We got to keep our friendship and had a safe, judgement free way to let out our… tension. We could talk without worrying that we’d offend the other. She could mourn her broken heart over her love of Tai without me getting upset that she was talking about another man while in bed with me. And I could tell her all the reasons I was afraid of getting into a serious relationship, usually related to my semblance, without them being brushed off or belittled. And without fear of her getting mad that I wouldn’t make a commitment to a relationship.

“After Raven left and we started hanging out with Tai more to help out with Yang I realized something. Without Raven to take up all of his attention, Tai was starting to notice Summer the way she’d always wanted him to.” Soft red eyes rolled in exasperation. It had taken the brawler far too long to realize Summer was the better option but he couldn’t regret Yang's existence. “So, I put a stop to our arrangement hoping that maybe he’d man up and a relationship could build between them. I think it was… two months later, maybe three… when Summer realized she was pregnant. She and Tai hadn’t reached that point in their relationship yet so there was really only one possibility for the father. Since the situation involved all of us we all sat down and talked it out.

“It was agreed that they would be the parents because I was still fully active as a huntsman and both of them were semi-retired and only took jobs occasionally. I was fine with that, it made sense after all. The main disagreement came with _when_ we should tell you the truth.” He sighed, lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck under the watchful eyes of his daughter. This was the most important part for her to understand. He didn’t want to risk any rifts growing in their little family. 

“I would have preferred raising you with the knowledge, or telling you once you were old enough to understand at the least. Tai originally wanted to wait until you were old enough to attend Beacon, so that if you needed space, you would have it. Summer was the one that wanted to wait until you’d graduated. Eventually she talked Tai around to her point of view, convinced him it would be better, safer, to wait until you were a fully licenced huntress so that you could support yourself if you decided to go for a trip. I didn’t argue anymore after that because I’d never win against them both and I could understand where she was coming from.

“So you were raised with Tai as your dad. Which isn’t actually a lie since his name is on your birth certificate. That means legally he is your dad. We just put the note in your medical file in case of emergencies that I was the genetic father for if you needed a transfusion or something.” He shrugged, offering a slight smile as he finished the story and explanation.

“Yea. That’s how I found out. Penny has access to everyone’s file and she’d said something that threw me off ‘cause she didn’t realize that I didn’t know.” Ruby nodded to herself, absorbing everything she could in such a short time. 

“Well, technically we were only gonna wait until you’d graduated and you’ve already done that so…” Ruby giggled and scooted closer to curl into his side. Leave it to Qrow to find a loophole in their old agreement. “This doesn’t really change anything if you don’t want it to. Tai’s still the dad that raised you and was there for all your important life moments growing up. Yang’s still the big sister who would die or commit murder for you. And I’ll always be here to support you in whatever way I can, whether you need me or not.”

“Well, it really doesn’t change anything. Dad’s the stay at home parent and you’re the working parent. I mean, really, you helped raise us no matter what you think.” She smiled up at him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Honestly, she had always considered him more of a co-parent than just an uncle. “And you always came when we really needed you to.” Ruby pressed her face into his shoulder, muffling her voice a bit. “It feels weird to call you Uncle now that I know but… Dad is Dad. Calling you Dad would be confusing.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, laughing quietly under his breath as he warped an arm around her shoulders and letting them sink down so they were reclining on the couch more than sitting. “You’ll figure it out, pipsqueak.”

“I could call you Mom!” The teen laughed at the predictable smack that landed on the back of her head. “Seriously though… I know the tribe has it’s own language. I remember you teaching some of it to us growing up, even if we didn’t really pay as much attention to the lessons as I wish we had…” Maybe now that she was older, she could get him to try teaching her again. She was more curious about the language as a teenager than she had been as a child. “What’s the tribe’s word for Dad?”

“Atya.” The old word rolled off his tongue and drifted into the air around them, feeling far heavier than it had any right to.

“Atya. I like it. It suits you.” Ruby snuggled closer, oblivious to the way the weight of the word settled in Qrow’s chest. He could tell by the way her body was slowly going lax that the teen was starting to fall asleep. Oh well, at least he was comfortable. Nothing wrong with napping together. They used to nap all the time like this when she was a toddler. (For the longest time it was the _only_ way she was willing to nap.)

“Anel ninya.” The words spilled past his lips without permission or conscious thought, as if they’d been waiting to be let free. And they probably had, if he stopped to think about it. After all, he’d never really wanted to keep it from her.

“What’s it mean?” Came the sleepy mumble from his chest area. 

He smiled softly down at her, pulling her closer. “Daughter mine.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes... I used Tolkien Elven for the tribal language... I'm a nerd, sue me...


End file.
